Satchel’s autobiographies

Just got an interesting question from an unnamed poster asking why, since Satchel had written an interesting memoir, there was any need for my book.

Satchel actually wrote two autobiographies, with help from two ghost writers. Both books were fascinating looks at his take on his career and life, and they were decidedly different, which is not surprising since they were written 14 years apart. Both were invaluable in what I am other biographers have written or will write on Satchel. Neither, however, is a substitute for an independent biography.

An autobiography is a person’s deeply personal take on his or her life. A biography is an attempt to objectively assess that life from every angle, including how friends, family, and teammates saw and see the subject. A memoir often crafts a legend; a biography seeks to deconstruct it, separating the facts and fictions. I hope the unnamed poster will have a look at my book and reconsider whether I had something to add to Satchel’s story – or whether, as the poster suggests, I should have accepted Satchel’s take on himself as all we want to need to know.

Larry